I've been feeling very Christmas-y recently, since it snowed here on Friday (17th) and I really like snow, just looking at it not going out in it, too cold for my liking. Sorry for being really late as well, mock exams are the worst thing ever. Oh and Merry Christmas everyone, or perhaps, Happy Holidays…?

Previous reviewers:

MuddyWolf- Replied via PM ^_^

Moofy-Fan

The train may try to slow down, but fluff bunnies are too late…cute as it may appear the concealed darkness is becoming less subtle…they will be falling off that cliff… and yes…ominous drop is ominous, luckily you only have a few more lines until all is revealed ^_^ That being said almost any scene with Sylvie ends up cute somehow.

Hmm? You aren't bricking me for Miles' name? Strange… but I'm glad someone likes it. I feel bad for Pride too since his visions of Miles' death actually weren't in the plan, so I guess I was just in a sadistic mood at that time, how terrible I am with him.

I can't decide whether writing un-canon Pride or canon Pride is easier, for the moment I'm gonna say fanon since I know how far away he is to becoming canon Pride and I can gauge his arrogance from that…sorta :S

Arakawa…owns this…zzzz

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Sin's Child

Chapter Twenty-One: On the Field of Fallen Stars

December 17th 1681

His fingers dug into her shoulders, she was cold, colder than he was "…You can wake up now…I need to tell you something, there…there's…" the old homunculus, who would appear to any human to be a frail child no older than ten, whispered close to her ear, his whole body shaking, his teeth chattering together so loud that he couldn't form what he was about to say in his head. His ignorant mistake lay around him in an endless blanket of white, he shouldn't have asked, he shouldn't have even thought about it. Pride's tiny hand cupped her face, rubbing her cheek with his thumb like she did with him, she didn't stir, didn't smile, didn't even shiver, didn't anything- He could feel his façade cracking, swallowing down the growing lump in his throat.

"Please stop pretending you're asleep, Lust, this is important." His silent sibling did not comply; somehow, he knew she wouldn't "You're still tired?" The same 'somehow' did nothing to help him pretend "I understand Lust, I'll leave you to sleep for a while, my…my flask can keep you company" It was against his better judgment he was sure, still, he stood the flask on her stomach, pushed her fringe back, and softly kissed her forehead. He thought about saying something else before he left, but fearing his composure would fail him completely, he just pushed himself to his feet and silently stepped out into the vast empty void of his 'mistake'.

They didn't glitter anymore; leaving the sky had tarnished them, nothing but white powder now. There was no use in apologizing, the sky was closed now, covered by angry clouds of a darker grey, they didn't want anyone to know what he'd done, they would never forgive him, and they had more than enough ways of reminding him.

Pride carried on what he had convinced himself was exploring, wincing as he heard the fallen stars crunching underneath, making him sink until they were around his ankles, the cold biting at his feet through his sandals, toes turning numb, he couldn't move them properly anymore. He didn't know where he was going; his first thought was that he was going to find a human, to find help for Lust, but homunculi were completely different to humans, only Father could fix her, he thought, and wondered how long it would take for him to drag her back home. It was better not to think about it. With a sigh that froze and swirled around in front of his face he balled his red tipped hands (his fingers were red as well? He hadn't noticed) and turned around, off to return to Lust.

But where was Lust?

Pride's looked around for any sign of where he had started from, eyes only meeting with identical expanses of white, and he stood in thought far longer than he knew was sensible, the numbness eating its way up to his knees, crawling along his hands and into his elbows before he had time to consider moving. Deciding to follow his footprints he clumsily forced his foot forward, leg braces that had tightened in the cold restricting his movement more than ever. Pride gritted his teeth, but forced a smile, looking on the more positive side- at least he had stopped shivering.

His footsteps slowed to little more than dragging his feet along the star covered ground after a few moments, the wind hissing at him as he went, his eyes watering now, curled fingers hidden beneath his cloak as he tried to pull his hood over his head and warm his ears, unable to flex enough to even pull back the sleeves. A low sob forced itself from his mouth, the cold wrapped around his ankles almost feeling like it was burning now, and yet he still didn't shiver at it, nor did it warm him in the slightest, he hugged himself in a vain attempt to make himself feel better, but he needed comfort that only another could provide.

Pride didn't remember falling over, only that his foot got stuck in one of his footprints and then he was on the floor, the fallen stars- that were both cold and warm like he had guessed the night before- covering half of his body, burning him through freezing him until he didn't realize it was there anymore, bleeding through to the other half of him instead. He thought he could see Lust, somewhere far away, just a small black strand of her hair poking out from the ground, he was too weak to move to her, they had taken whatever strength he had, just like they'd taken Lust away, he supposed that somehow he might have deserved it, him and his wonderings. And yet, a small warmth started up in his chest, Pride didn't feel it on his skin, he didn't feel anything on his skin anymore, instead fully focused on the gentle smoldering of his internal fire, at least that's what he imagined it to be through his drooping eyes.

Silent tears poured from Pride's eyes, dripping off his nose into his 'fallen stars', melting them with ease, not that he noticed, too far gone to see his further ignorance. He just continued to mentally huddle around the false source of warmth, listening to the crackling that wasn't there, as what heat remained within his feeble frame left through his mix of contented sighs and forlorn tears.

Drifting into a most comfortable sleep, Pride smiled, grateful for the only small comfort that he was able to provide for himself.

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True warmth was trickling into his mouth from somewhere, he didn't understand what was happening, only aware of the gentle arms cradling him, he huddled closer.

"Is this ok, Pride?" Lust's silken voice echoed close to him, she pressed the glass' edge against his lips "I should have expected this, I'm so sorry; you must've been terrified…" She held him tighter as she spoke, voice little more than a whisper, Pride did not understand any of it "But you're safe now, please just focus on drinking, your container needs to be warmed up from the inside, please don't try to speak, save your energy." He didn't question where Lust had gotten a Philosopher's stone from; it didn't matter at the moment, he just accepted it wholeheartedly, fully appreciating its non-diluted taste and the extra hint of something else he couldn't define that altered it slightly.

Lust stared down at him, as he weakly gulped down her blood from his flask- a hasty decision, made out of panic when she found him, seeing his fragile body curled up in the snow, his cheeks, nose and limbs all a bright scarlet from the cold, minute spasms running through him, the same scarlet flashing along with them, his Philosopher's stone doing whatever it could to fight off death for a few more seconds

…he didn't know how to regenerate himself completely…

What would have been his final breath passed his lips several times before she had managed to slice her finger open. How could she have been so stupid as to not expect snow in the middle of December? To even let herself die, leaving the one she was supposed to protect alone in an environment he knew nothing about… the guilt of it all hurt in a way that death never could.

"Hmm?" Pride's tired eyes cracked open, staring down at his flask in confusion, any other time he might have thought it strange to use his flask for drinking from, but more concerned with where the Philosopher's stone he had been drinking had gone he didn't notice. Seeing it empty he pulled away from it, licking his red-stained lips. "All gone…Lust…"

"I'm sorry, Pride, do you want me to refill your flask…I could…" Lust leaned against the tree, prepared to cut her recently healed fingers again should 'Big brother' desire it, Pride just yawned and snuggled himself further into her arms, Lust didn't think anything of it, holding onto his hand, feeling the gentle drumming of his human's heart through his wrist, so relaxed, no…it was getting fainter…he was going to sleep…

Going to sleep…

"No!" Pride flinched, curling up as tight as he could without thinking, regaining control of himself he gazed up at her, wide eyes questioning her innocently, much too polite to scowl, but no doubt he could feel what he thought was his own heart pounding in his ears, she smiled a sheepish smile, burying her worry beneath it "You…you need to stay awake…" She didn't want to explain death to him, what would be the point? It would only make him fear it for the rest of his life, even if temporary for homunculi, dying for the first time didn't have the best effect on the mind, Pride had the instinct to avoid it as much as possible, but if he wasn't aware of what was happening, or at least didn't feel something wrong, then perhaps he wouldn't be able to…

"You wouldn't wake up earlier…" It was the first thing Pride had said on the subject, he murmured it quietly, like he didn't really want to bring it up at all "I tried and tried and tried, but you just…" His voice strained as he trailed off, his eyes opening a little wider as he seemed to remember, small creases contorting his cherubic face, hand gripping onto hers as if he never wanted to let it go again "…Why?" Lust had no answer for that, none that would protect his innocence at least.

"I was…" The expression on his face was almost enough to convince her that it would be better for her to tell him the truth for once -to stop lying to him- but that same expression told her that he needn't know, if she told him now... "I ended up oversleeping, I'm sorry, I usually go to bed before you so that I can wake you up, but last night you fell asleep before me, so woke up earlier than usual, I didn't mean to worry you." He hardly seemed convinced, but she pressed on anyway "Don't you remember?" Pride shook his head, thinking for a moment.

"I…remember, we saw the moon, and the stars…I fell asleep, and the stars fell down." His tone was laced with guilt that he couldn't for the life of him try to hide, a guilt that Lust knew he had never felt before. But Lust didn't understand what he had to feel guilty about.

"The stars don't fall down, Pride, did you not hear me tell you yesterday?"

"The stars fell down; can't you see them, Lust? On the ground…because of me…"

"You mean snow?" Pride turned to her, whispering a 'what?' in disbelief "Oh of course, how could I…" His eyes were already welling up, whether from relief or sadness Lust couldn't tell "You thought all this was your fault? Oh no, no no no, you poor thing" Pride nodded glumly, blinking hard to himself, his body rattling with unheard sobs, she pulled him to her chest "They're not stars Pride, it's snow, you see…when it's cold the clouds drop little white specks from the sky, that's all it is, I should have told you all this before. Humans love snow, not too sure why but…I suppose we don't need to know about such things…" Lust held him, rocking him gently, no soothing words reaching him, she couldn't risk it, he could not be allowed to sleep until he was out of the cold.

Pride, though his slowing flow of tears suddenly felt Lust pushing him further into her chest, into a particularly uncomfortable position, and his attempts to resist were only met with more force, force he stood no chance against, his body ached too much.

"Wh-What are you doing, Lust? !" His throat objected his attempts to form the words, drinking had not soothed it in the slightest. She pulled him closer still, tilting his head towards the 'tree', not allowing him to see whatever she was seeing.

"Don't look Pride, don't turn around, don't even peek." She actually seemed…scared?

"Why not?"

"I overslept, the sun's already up, and the clouds have parted- how convenient…"

"The sun?"

"The sun makes light, Pride, it's one of the brightest things in the world, and you…you're afraid of light, " His body tensed at the word, he hadn't heard it in so long, it reawaked memories inside him, blurred and distorted as they were, he could still recall the fear that had ran through him at the sight of light, he knew not how many years had passed since then, but the fear felt as pure as it did back then, and before he had time to react it shot through him once more, renewed in full force. He started shivering, it was so close, and he hadn't even noticed… "You must not see, close your eyes." He did as he was told, clinging to her.

Lust wasn't afraid of light, she could protect him, she would never let anything happen to him. Pride nodded to himself, his attempts to calm himself down succeeding somewhat. He thought about his sister in curiosity, though younger than him she was much more knowledgeable about humans, she knew about why the sky changed colour and sometimes dropped things on the floor for the humans' amusement, but none of those things would serve much purpose in keeping that 'light' away from him…

…Or perhaps him away from 'it'.

A strange thought appeared from somewhere, a thought that he had never considered before- perhaps he didn't need to be afraid of the light, what could it do to him? He had a 'container' now, that would protect him from the light. Something else swirled itself about inside him from that somewhere, but it didn't give him any strange ideas, like it was sleeping, waiting for something to happen, something for him to do by himself, he wanted to ignore it, but he felt drawn towards it somehow, even if it wasn't real. He pushed it away, musing about his container and how he could use it to protect him. Or since it was his container…

How he could use it to protect himself.

The thought interested him, the very thought of not having to rely on another to achieve something, to be able to look after himself…it made him feel-

The 'something' exploded inside his head, flooding his mind in a flash of purple, overpowering everything until there was only an intense feeling of self-importance, he had felt it occasionally, when he first learned how to walk, when he found out he was taller than Sylvie the day they met, but never at such a scale before, he scrunched his face in attempt to contain it all, it was too much, it was far too much for his body to hold.

Then, for a brief moment, he understood, he knew that he was something more than human, not through what Father had taught him, the sense of superiority that burned within him confirmed it more than any belief ever could, he had every reason to consider himself above anything and everything in the world, he could do things without help from anyone else, he was… he was…

He regained enough control to correct himself, he was not superior to everyone, there was Father, Father was the reason he existed, without him what purpose could he serve? He was a part of Father; he was named after one of his sins, the sin he didn't have anymore, his…his…

His pride.

And as quickly as it had began it faded away, the 'something' sealing itself back up, leaving him shuddering in what Lust would assume was fear, his vision through closed eyes returning to its usual black. He assumed that he had gone back to normal, but a hint of that confidence remained with him, he smiled and sat up.

Lust gasped as she felt Pride trying to pull away from her

"Pride, Wh-what are you…? No, you mustn't…" Pride ignored her, smiling, it was a smile Lust had never seen him make before, he seemed so confident; she didn't know how she was supposed to react.

"I will be fine, Lust, please do not worry." She almost flinched at his tone, as he repeated words she often said to him. Seemingly oblivious he turned towards the light, tilting his head at it. Without a moment's hesitation he stood up and strode forward into the snow, glancing back to look at his flask, but otherwise unfazed that less than an hour ago he was lying in it, teetering on the line between life and death, whether he did not realize or had forced himself to forget that fact Lust didn't know.

The 'sun' shone down on him, as if trying to blind him, he didn't look at it directly. Pride was still beaming, confidence burning in his eyes, the very idea of being afraid long forgotten. He crossed his arms, raising his head and turning away, shunning it in disgust, this was what he had been afraid of? How absurd. He thought he heard Lust gasp, opening one of his eyes he saw her frowning, holding his red-stained flask to her chest, looking at him like she didn't even recognize him. His expression softened, he flashed her a warmer smile, uncrossing his arms so as to wave.

Suddenly the last of his newfound confidence drained away, the 'something' sealing completely and returning to wherever it had come from, abandoning him, he stood frozen, feeling hollow and cold, his legs quivering. Pride hadn't the time to gasp, his legs buckling; he collapsed sideways into the snow, falling in a graceless white heap, the glacial air enfolding him. He hadn't the strength to move, and merely stared ahead, a small scowl contorting his young looking features as the sun bore triumphantly down at him, until his blurred vision faded to black.

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"And then Lust carried me back through town, and all the humans were playing in the snow!"

"Did you wish to be playing in the snow as well, Pride?" The younger homunculus shook his head

"No, Father, they made it all dirty, is was much prettier when left alone, it sparkled like the stars, I wanted to bring you some in my flask but it melted… but it was this colour" Pride pointed to his robe, but shook his head as he saw how dirty it had become from his visit to the town "oh…My clothes are grey now, I'm sorry for dirtying it, Father, please forgive me."

"It is fine, as long as you enjoyed yourself." Father pressed his finger into his chest, the robe returning to its pure white in an instant, Pride giggled as the sparks crackled and danced over his skin, squirming a bit at the sensation. "What did you do after that, Pride?" he paused for a moment to recall what else had happened during their return home

"Well, we walked through the royal gardens…I didn't see Sylvie, Mister 'Servant' said she wasn't feeling very well." Pride didn't really understand what that meant, but that was the only other thing he could think of that had happened on their way back. "…And that's it" His throat didn't seem to approve him talking so much, his voice coming out particularly hoarse, he forced himself to cough.

"You're coughing, Pride? Is something the matter?" Pride didn't want Father worrying about him over nothing; he gulped in hopes of fixing his voice as he shook his head quickly, making up some excuse.

"My throat just stings a little bit, Father, but I'm sure it will go away soon, it's nothing." Before he had time to respond Pride heard footsteps coming from the direction of Lust's room

"Oh, Father, Lust must have cleaned out my flask, please may I collect it from her?" Catching glimpse of Father nodding Pride gently pushed himself from his lap, bowing respectfully before walking off towards the source of the footsteps, he decided against running lest his limbs start aching again.

Lust stepped out from the hallway carrying something almost as tall as her under her arm, Pride waved at her, and followed quietly behind.

"Hello there, Pride, sorry I haven't brought your flask back, it still needs to soak for a little while, the…Philosopher's stone's stained in a bit, I hope you don't mind." Pride, polite as ever, nodded with a smile, increasing his pace to catch her up and curiously pointed at what she was holding. "Oh, this? It's a mirror, you've never seen one before have you? It shows you your reflection" Stopping seemingly at random she set the 'mirror' down on its four gold legs. "Now, before I show you, I want you to have this" Lust held out a small white piece of cloth "It's a nametag! So the humans know what your 'name' is when they meet you. Look, I made myself one too." She tapped at the small piece of cloth stitched onto the front of her human attire; she kneeled down to let him see it better.

"Elle…Yuu…Enn…Ay…that's right, he calls you Luna, doesn't he?" Pride murmured to himself as she pinned his 'nametag' onto his cloak with a small bone needle.

"And…there we go!" Lust clapped happily at her apparent success, standing back up, motioning for him to step back as she tilted the mirror, flipping it around.

Pride inched closer, slowly, almost in awe of the sight before him in the mirror. He could see himself in it, for the first time he could see what he looked like, or rather, what the container Father had made for him looked like. He tugged up the bottom of his cloak; his reflection did the same, revealing the sandals Father had given him, and the black leg braces that helped him walk. He dropped the cloth down, pressing against the mirror's front with his finger; it met its double through the glass, resting his hand against it with a sigh, he eyed his form with admiration and wonder, from his ten pale toes, to his full, pink lined cheeks, to his dark mass of hair, to whatever lay under his clothes, his container was everything he could have wanted, something he could live in instead of his flask, something that allowed him to assist Father, that let him write and draw and do things for himself, when trying to define it only one word ever crossed his mind.

Perfect

He stepped closer still, and wrapped his arms around the mirror, embracing his container through it; he could never thank Father enough for making it for him.

After what seemed like forever he stood up straight, examining the name tag Lust had made for him.

"Can you read it, Pride? It's EmmAiiElleEeEs-"

"Have I got a new name, Lust? Because the 'Ess' is backwards." Pride commented flatly

"What? It says Mile-"

"It says 'Selim'. See?" Pride pointed to the letters through the mirror "Ess, but backwards. Ee. Elle. Aii. Emm. Selim. Or is Seleem? Salem? How do you say it?" Lust understood now, he was reading it through the mirror's reflection

Miles, or in Pride's reading 'seliM', what an odd name he had made for himself.

It was all her fault as usual; she just smiled and thought it better to let him decide by himself.

"You pronounce it however you want, Pride; your human name can be anything. Miles or…'Selim' I don't think Father will mind."

"Won't mind what, Lust?" Father spoke from behind them, they both turned around instantly, Pride rushing forward to give him a hug from his waist and babble things about him and his container, and how grateful he was.

"I'm glad you like your container, Pride. Now, what were you using the mirror for?" Pride beamed from ear to ear at Father taking interest in what he was doing.

"I have been looking at my reflection, Father, and Lust made me a-" Pride paused to rub at his nose, trying to distract himself from the ticklish feeling that had started up inside it "…made me a…" a breath forced its way into his mouth, another one quickly following behind it

"a…" and another one

"a…"

Achoo!

His eyes were screwed shut when he realized what had happened, Lust and Father stayed silent, even though his face was ablaze with embarrassment.

"Pride…you…you…" He blinked a few times, his eyes watering, and glanced at the mirror, his eyes widened and he covered his mouth, backing away, stomach flipping over.

A thick clear liquid was running slowly down the mirror's surface, filled with splodges of brown and streaks of crimson.

That… had come out of his nose…? He could see his face flush through the mirror, he turned away, he didn't want to see, didn't want to even think about it. Someone pulled him aside by the shoulders

"What was that, Pride? Why did you sneeze? Are you not feeling well?" As if by some kind of spite all of Pride's previous discomforts returned at the mention of something being wrong him, his arms and legs ached, he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, and his throat…

"I…Father, my...throat…hurts…a-and…" Father studied him, pulling down the skin below his eyes as he began to transmute a large bed at his side.

"I see, do not worry, I will fix you" Pride felt himself fall forward, into Father's arms, he couldn't hold his weight anymore, "please, just rest" Father scooped him up, and pressed his hand against his forehead "sleep now, Little One." The sound of sparks crackled in his ears for a moment, and the warmth of Father's alchemy seemed to reach through to something deep inside his head, and nudge at it.

Pride slumped into his Father's chest, and thought about it no more.

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December 20th 1681

"Are you feeling any better, Pride?" She had been told to only ask him 'yes/no' questions; she was not to make his Influenza any worse. Pride nodded weakly, his eyes red, wrapped tightly in the blankets of his 'bed'; it wouldn't have surprised her in the least if Father had bound his limbs again.

She was glad he wasn't allowed to talk, otherwise he might ask about the bandages around her hands and feet.

Perhaps we should leave Pride to rest while we…discuss things…

"Does your throat hurt? Do you want more 'Philosopher's stones' to drink?"

It certainly would be easier to get them this time.

He shook his head; it was probably too warm for him. "Melon then?" Pride's eyes seemed to light up at the mention of the word, as if he had been waiting for someone to ask him since he had woken up but a few hours earlier. She laughed and sliced a small piece off from his remaining half with a knife, had he been well he would have noticed in an instant what was wrong. She popped the chunk into his mouth, he sighed as it cooled his throat, opening his mouth for another slice almost immediately after.

His innocence was intact it seemed, he appeared to have no memory of his arrogant acts a few days before, and she wouldn't speak a word of it to anyone, though it was selfish of her, seeing him so confident and self sufficient, so sure of himself…she didn't like it, it wasn't her 'Big Brother', wasn't the Pride she had known and looked after, not in the slightest.

Pride's brow furrowed, and he bit into his lip, twisting about underneath his blankets, whatever remained of Lust's good mood was soiled by that, seeing him so ill, in such pain, and all because of her…

The first time he goes up there in his container, and he comes back like this? !

"My…St-Stomach." Lust nodded, adding a 'shh' as she noted down what stage of influenza he may have been at, if the illness worked like that at all.

"Do you want me do rub it for you? Or, if you sleep for a while, I can go upstairs to find you some medicine; I've heard that a mint drink can help a little." Pride groaned again, his cheeks flushing in the beginnings of another fever "Or do you want me to stay here?" She knew the answer; she couldn't leave him with a fever, already preparing the cold water she had been saving.

He nuzzled into his now clean flask, seeking comfort from it as it lay beside him on his pillow, brushing his illness aside, how he could stay so optimistic all the time was beyond her, but Lust thought that perhaps ignorance was bliss; intelligent as she was, nothing good ever seemed to come of it.

"Lust, Father says he'll be f…fixing me soon"

"Please Pride, Father says you shouldn't talk, your throat needs to rest, as do you." He ignored her

"So…when I'm better…can we go upstairs again? It was-" He broke out into coughs, she covered his mouth for him, lying on his back was doing him no good, but she hadn't the nerve to tell Father that.

"…C-Can we?" Lust didn't know how to respond, Pride's happiness was the most important thing at the moment, but…

Do not expect to be visiting the human town with Pride in the future, Lust…

Lust just smiled, cupped his face, and offered him another piece of melon.

"Of course we can…Big Brother."

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Seeing Pride becoming more arrogant scares me… it's getting closer…

Miles' name has revealed it's cheapness for real now; bricks and bullets are now acceptable!

And Pride has got the flu; he even had to sneeze up some of the clotted blood that was lodged in Miles' nose from his broken nose when he was alive, I make him suffer so much. DX